The subtlety of Nick Drnaso’s comics really gets me. The Grassy Knoll is just about a weirdo who picks up trash but I read this a couple weeks ago and, unlike the vast majority of comics I read, I’m still thinking about it!
Drnaso offers up minimal information so it’s not clear what the situation is. I’m guessing trash pick-up is a weekend/summer job teenagers in some parts of America do? A new guy called Tim joins the crew and gets paired with Sal, the schlumpy dork on the cover, and gets progressively unnerved by his company.
Despite just meeting him, Sal takes an uncomfortably familiar tone with Tim, randomly quotes the Bible under his breath, gives him detailed reviews of crappy films he’s seen, and can’t handle being teased by the girl pickers. Maybe he’s on the spectrum, maybe he’s just shy and/or lonely, maybe he’s genuinely nuts! Still, it’s unexpectedly funny and I loved the scene when Tim goes to see the put-upon manager who’s clearly at his wit’s end with Sal.
But it’s panels like the one at the end where Sal pops up from behind a bush, grinning, mimicking holding a gun and pulling the trigger at Tim – I think that’s what the title’s referencing, the JFK assassination? – that’s kept this comic in my head. It makes you wonder what Sal’s gonna do next – someone that socially isolated and seemingly unhinged; are they gonna be on the news soon?
Yet it’s that ambiguity that’s also my only real problem with this comic: it’s too damn short – it’s like we’re only getting part of a story and I really wanted more! Just as we get to know Sal, it’s over and it’s very unsatisfying.
The Grassy Knoll is a decent comic though and pleasantly unusual and interesting to be worth a look for indie comics/Nick Drnaso fans.